anywho, because of the holiday weekend, we weren't the only ones trying to get out of the city..the bus ride took a wee bit longer than expected..it was supposed to be 2.5 hours, but it ended up being 6.5 hours!!!!!!!!! traffic wasn't stopped at any point, but it never moved very quickly either..we knew the ride would be longer than expected, but wow, it was LOOOOOONG..anywho, we arrived in danyang, at the temporary bus stop..it was a little shack set up, and the two guys manning the fort said we couldn't make reservations for a bus ride back..oh well..they did howeva speak great english, hand us a tourist map (in english!!) and tell us to come back if we had any questions..that was just the beginning of all the really nice locals we met that weekend..after wandering for a while, we found a motel we were happy with..not surprisingly, the prices for that weekend were higher than normal..our rooms hadn't yet been cleaned, but they said they had room for us, and told us to come back at 1800..so off we walked..we had to carry our backpacks with us, but none of us had packed much..the first activity was to pick up some snacks..we hadn't thought we'd be on the bus that long, so we were HUNGRY..(our bus arrived at 1600, instead of the expected 1200)..sheila has some dietary restrictions, so we were looking for a particular type of restaurant, but didn't immediately see it..so we asked the cashier at a GS25, and he gave us directions..he even drew us a little map!! (nice local #2)..we made our way to the restaurant, which was awesome..we had dok galbi, or chicken galbi, whateva you want to call it..and it was awesome..according to the menu we were having a type that was particularly special in danyang, but i don't really know if it was that different from any other dok galbi i've had..either way, it was really good, and there was a LOT of it..after dinner we checked in, ditched our stuff, and kept walking..
our motel was along the river, which was pretty, and nothing like you're ever going to see in seoul..so we walked..according to our map, there was a rose tunnel not so far away so we headed in that direction..about halfway there we thought it would be more fun to walk along the river, not along the road, so we made our way down to the water, and the beach..great sand!! on a sunny day it would be a lovely way to spend a day, so we planned that for the next afternoon..that evening, we just enjoyed the quiet, since seoul never sleeps..sheila and mel played around in the river too..while walking we had noticed a series of tents along the river, so on our way back, we decided to walk through the area..it turned out to be part of the flower festival..the tents were filled with typical carnival type games..darts, throw the ring on the stick, bb guns, etc..i tried my luck at one game, and though it didn't go well, i had fun..mel and sheila tried the bb guns, and were very successfull..a few booths later mel tried the darts...she was far more successful than i was...after getting our fill of making fools of ourselves at these carnival games (always with plenty of locals watching us) we got back onto the streets...earlier in the day mel had seen a place where we could do video golf..the idea is that you can "play" a real golf course inside one room..you use a real golf ball, and real clubs, but hit the ball against a screen...lasers or motion sensors or something detect the ball, and figure out how far (and in what direction) you would've hit it outside..the guy running the place gave us a tutorial, which we thought would be over quickly..but no, that's not what happened..he felt the need to "help" us nearly the entire time we were trying to play..mel, sheila and i, well, we aren't um, any good at all...hee hee...we had fun, and that was all that mattered..after 5 holes we decided to call it a night, especially since it was almost midnight.. 
the next morning we were up and tried to find a local dunkin donuts for breakfast..it turns out danyang is too small for a DD..so we went to 김밥천국..kimbap heaven...a fast food chain on every block all over korea..from there we decided to walk to the train station, and book tickets home for the next day..after having spent so long on the bus the day before, we didn't want to do that again, and we knew a train would take as long as it was supposed to, and would leave on time, and wouldn't require us to wait until the next available train..the walk took us a little longer than expected, but we stopped along the way for fun pictures..
(mel and sheila have learned that i love taking photos)..since we didn't feel like standing, we booked tickets for a train leaving at 0830, as everything after that was standing room only..danyang is know for "eight scenic sights" and we wanted to see a few of them..they're all natural formations of rocks..we didn't know of any public transport that would take us to all of them, so we opted to hire a taxi..not something any of us would normally have done, but it ended up working quite well..as it turned out, getting to each of the places took longer than we expected..the first was about 15km from the train station!! we got out quickly, took photos quickly, hopped back in the taxi, and kept going to the next spot..he did a good job driving us around..our last stop was to see three rocks coming out of the river, a small temple having been built on one..the story of what each of the rocks represents was pretty funny..the "daughter" rock could also be called "concubine"..we didn't think they had had an english speaker edit before making the sign, as those two words shouldn't ever be interchangeable..anywho, from there it was a slightly longish (we all enjoy walking, so it didn't matter to us how long it was) walk back into town..walking is always good for you..
we were all hungry, so we opted for pizza..i know it isn't korean, but hey, we eat plenty of korean food on a regular basis, so there is no need to eat it every meal while on holiday..we enjoyed our pizza, and met the wierdest group of foreigners EVER..when they walked in, we were guessing a couple visiting their teacher son..we were VERY wrong..as it turned out, it was a single guy (the "dad") who had met up with the married couple (the "mom" and "son") while in town..the "dad" had previously taught in danyang, and the couple currently lives in daejon..they were all just creepy, and for the rest of the trip we kept referring to the wierdest couple EVER..
after dinner we went back to the carnival..mel and sheila wanted more time with the bb guns, hee hee...they did pretty well and ended up with matching stuffed penguins..i threw darts, and ended up with a penguin of my own:)..
i also purchased a visor..the best visor ever..it's HUGE and has red/silver sparkles..i don't think you can get any better, especially for only 5000won!! we walked over to the ampitheater, which was being set up for a concert, and sat around for a while, maybe 20 minutes..people kept filling in the seats, but we didn't know when it was going to start, and didn't feel like waiting in the rain..we were under the cover, but the rain was still blowing in..not so fun..plus the penguins were starting to complain..so we went back to our hotel, and played card games..fun, especially because i won:) 
the next morning we had to be up pretty early in order to catch our train..the ajumma who checked us out of the hotel was totally awesome..definitely not the normal ajumma..she gave us coffee (i gave mine to mel) and fruit drinky things..and SOCKS!! she gave us socks!!! she said that i would get sick because i was wearing short sleeves while it was chilly/rainy outside..the socks were great because they had the nike swoosh, nike spelled with a backwards N, and the three stripes of adidas..i love those socks:)
the train arrived and left on time, we arrived in seoul around noon-ish..
an awesome weekend out of the city:)..so nice to be in a place where you can actually see green, and mountains..living in the city, you sometimes tend to forget that not everything is made of concrete..
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